Washington and 50 mile area of Portland, OregonSeptember 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of September 20 and 21, 1960, witnesses across Washington and the Portland, Oregon area saw a white, glowing object streak across the sky. The sighting occurred in two phases, separated by geography and time.

In the Portland area around 2405 to 2415 hours (12:05 a.m. to 12:15 a.m.) on September 21, an FAA tower operator and several local law enforcement officers reported seeing a large white ball, roughly the size of a marble held at arm's length. The object appeared to break into several pieces. Trailing fragments burned and produced a flashing tail that was somewhat longer than the object itself. The object moved rapidly in a straight line with no apparent maneuvers. It disappeared low in the east, disappearing behind buildings or mountains depending on where observers were located. The sighting lasted 15 to 30 seconds. The witnesses' reports were nearly identical despite differences in descriptive language, with all times reported within a 13-minute window.

Hours later, a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft pilot, Lieutenant David W. Irons, reported a separate sighting at 1435 Zulu (3:35 a.m. local time) on September 21 near Paine Field, Washington. Flying one mile west of the airport, Irons saw a fireball about half the size of a dime, reddish-yellow-white in color. It had a trail of sparks or flame three times the length of the fireball itself. The object appeared to break up before burning out completely. The sighting lasted 6.5 to 13 seconds.

The Air Force evaluation concluded that both observations were consistent with a meteor of the "bolide" class (a bright fireball meteor). The description and color matched typical meteor characteristics. The report noted that while no satellite reentries were recorded for that date, portions of a satellite called 1580 Epsilon did reenter Earth's atmosphere during September and October 1960 on unidentified dates. The Air Force form indicates the case evaluation as "unknown," though the detailed comments point toward a probable meteor explanation. A Seattle sighting at the same time and date also correlated with the event.

This case file contains 14 pages as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Washington and 50 mile area of Portland, Oregon

Date of incident

September 1960

State / country

OR / US

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 40

MULTIPLE SIGHTING CORD CARD I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS Xe Pe Washington and 50 mile area of 20 Sep 60 ishingion and JL mile area of 0 Wos Bolloon Pcrtland, Oregon 0 Probably Balicon late i i Biss i as Ye POEL 4 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPZ OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon RE is BD Gmound-Yisvel O Ground-Rodor 0 Wos Aireroft id Jah iota 0 Probably Aircraft i i PIR er Bhd une SRR SEN 0 AinVisuol 00 Air-Intereept Rodar DO Possibly Aircroft 5. PHOTOS 3. SOURCE HO 0 Wos Astronomical 0 Yes gs Ea 1 Probably Astrenomicol [lat aor oN MiLlcary ana Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical ~ 10 4 7. LENGTH OF O8S8ZRYATION 3. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BD Olwro PEE CATS O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation 15-30 sec one Ie 0 Unknown EE ———————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————— ENTER LPP MBRE SHAR IRIE aO Pe Se ee ——————————— ee 3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS White glowing object aprox the size of a marble Description is characteristic of a which broke into several pieces. Pieces trailed| meteor. No satellite reentries this and burned. Object had flashing tail, taper ing date, although portions of 1580 Epsilon in 51ze, scmewnat longer than object. Straight reentered during Sep and Oct on uniden- flight with no meneuvars, disappeared low in tified dates. General description and he east. color indicate that the object was a "bolide" class of meteor. Correlates with Seattle sighting of same time and date. EE ——————————————————————-————. —————————— ——————— ———- i ATIC FORM 129 (REV 25 SEP 52) ’